Jays reveal Romero followed dismal season with surgery

TORONTO — Left-hander Ricky Romero pitched with abnormal soreness in his elbow during the season but did not tell Toronto Blue Jays officials about it.

When the one-time ace of the staff underwent elbow surgery two weeks ago, the team kept that news a secret.

On Tuesday, the Jays finally issued a news release revealing that Romero had arthroscopic surgery to “clean up” his elbow. The six-week recovery time will not affect his preparation for spring training, the team said.

The relatively routine surgery followed a rough season in which Romero began to feel unusual soreness on the outside of his elbow.

He said he could not recall exactly when it started, but it was “a little more soreness than usual” and it “built up little by little.” He underwent his usual post-start treatments in the trainers’ room, but “I never made it a big deal,” he said in a conference call Tuesday.

After three solid seasons, Romero endured a disastrous year in 2012.

He made his usual 32 starts, but went 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA. His ERA was the worst among major-league starters.

Romero said he was determined to “get out of my own mess” and not use his sore elbow as an excuse.

“I don’t know if it affected my performance,” he said. “I don’t like to think it did.”

He added: “I’m not going to make an excuse about this past season. I stunk and that’s it.”

Romero has always taken pride in not missing a start. Given the surge of debilitating pitching injuries that struck the team, Romero said he was determined to keep going, even though his ERA rose by almost two runs over the final four months.

“With the hard work I put in, you’re going to have to chop my left arm for me not to take the mound,” he said.

“That’s the mentality I take.

“If (there is) anything that you learn from this, it’s just to be a little bit more cautious, talk a little more and just let them know how you’re feeling a little more, and get options on how to recover a little quicker during the year.”

During the season, both Romero and former manager John Farrell denied the pitcher’s poor performance might stem from an injury. Asked late in the season whether the Jays had considered sending Romero to a specialist for a checkup, Farrell said they had no reason to do so.

When the season ended, Romero said he met with general manager Alex Anthopoulos, pitching coach Bruce Walton and Farrell. “It was brought up to me to see whether I wanted to see Dr. (Lewis) Yocum for an MRI,” Romero said.

The MRI indicated a problem but was otherwise inconclusive. Yocum, a prominent Los Angeles surgeon, said he could not ascertain the extent of the problem without surgery. He gave Romero two options: a cortisone shot with re-examination after a month, or surgery, with a six-week recovery period.

Romero was concerned the cortisone shot would produce only temporary results, so he chose surgery. He was not sure exactly what the cleanup involved, but “the MRI showed that I had a lot of scar tissue in there and other stuff built up that was kind of dirty.” The Blue Jays placed no pressure on him to have the surgery, he said.

The procedure revealed that his ulnar collateral ligament is healthy, he said. A torn UCL requires Tommy John surgery and at least a year’s recovery.

Romero also had platelet-rich plasma injections in both knees to accelerate recovery from quadriceps tendinitis.